19 Januar 2009

Whose library?

Jacob Heilbrunn’s review of “Hitler’s Private Library” (Jan. 4) fails to mention that Timothy W. Ryback is not the first to examine Hitler’s private library in detail. He was preceded by the Hungarian historian Ambrus Miskolczy of Budapest’s Central European University, who published his findings in 2003.

Heilbrunn also fails to ask a very obvious question: Why are Hitler’s books still housed at the Library of Congress? It is difficult to see on what grounds this venerable institution could claim rightful ownership of this collection which, like all of Hitler’s private possessions, belongs to the German state. Hitler’s library, or what is left of it, should long ago have been turned over to Germany’s Federal Archives.

REINHARD MARKNERBerlin

Die Moral von der Geschichte fiel einer Kürzung zum Opfer:

The example shows that it is not just Russia that is reluctant to return her remaining World War II loot.